


White Carnations

by orphan_account



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Flowers, Get your tissues ready yall, Hanahaki Disease, No Fluff, Rayllum, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-06 04:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18381002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Rayla realizes that she loves Callum, everything in her world becomes lighter. That is, until she remembers his feelings for Claudia. Soon, she begins to cough. Nothing out of ordinary, they were few and far between. Until a seed appears.Hanahaki disease AU, post-war.





	White Carnations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fandomgays](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomgays/gifts).



Rayla stared in quiet horror at the small seeds lying in the center of her palm. The seeds were all of common Xadian flowers, though it gave her no relief. She knew what this was. Runaan had gone through this some years prior when he met Tinker, his weaponsmith. It started with seeds and then progressed to petals then to whole flowers. He was only saved by Tinker's accidental confession. A knock sounded at her door startling her out of her memory.

 

“Rayla you in there? Ez needs to see you for the diplomatic meeting,” Callum's voice sounded through the large wooden door. Rayla quickly got off of the rug and rushed to shove the seeds in an empty drawer. Turning, she ignored the tickle of discomfort in her chest. _I can't tell him. He likes Claudia and it will only hurt more when he rejects me._

 

“Sorry Callum! Be there in a sec!” Rayla yelled as she gathered her papers in her arms and waited by the door until she heard his footsteps fading. _I can do this. Just hold it in until the meeting is over. You can do this Rayla._

\--

The meeting went exactly as the last with the human's grudge holding them from agreeing to anything the elves proposed. Rayla, to her credit, kept her mouth shut tight as a vice unless she was addressed directly, which wasn't often. A few stray coughs broke through now and then but no one said anything so Rayla figured she was okay.

 

When Janai finally concluded the meeting, Rayla rushed out as unsuspiciously as possible, 4 small seeds clenched tightly in her fist. She felt the tightness in her chest becoming worse when she saw Callum walk down the hall towards her.

 

“Hey Ray! How was it? Everyone still fighting?” He looked happy to see her. _“Keep it together,”_ Rayla thought to herself, her hands shaking lightly.

 

“Absolutely awful,” she gave a small fake smile, “Ez looked pretty pissed and I could tell he wanted to bash Soren's head in for all the racist remarks he made.” Callum looked amused and responded about needing to leave to see Claudia about a magic lesson. Her chest tightened.

 

\--

 

More seeds appeared. Rayla had gotten back late from the meeting, courtesy of Callum and her own need for some water, and as soon as she closed the door she slithered down the wall and curled her knees to her chest. Shivering, she coughed up several more seeds into her hand. These were bigger and there were several she couldn't recognize. 11 seeds in total. It was spreading.

 

Rayla felt a few small tears drip down her face. She gently laughed as she recalled this was the first time she had cried in several years.

 

“I really need to get control of myself,” the tired elf said to her empty room. Sliding off of the floor, she got up, put the seeds with the others in the drawer and went to find this library she had heard of. Maybe she could learn some things about this disease there.

 

Slipping out the door and quietly padding down the vast halls, she reached the large twin doors of the library. As she pushed them open, her ears twitched when they heard voices. Familiar voices. She quickly hid behind one of the many bookcases and peeked out. Claudia was sitting there with Callum and they looked to be laughing over something she said. Rayla coughed. Looking down, she felt extreme fear as she saw the four bright white petals. Rayla could feel more tears beginning to gather and rushed off to another section, petals grasped firmly in hand. When the voices finally faded she sighed and collapsed next to a bookshelf. Tilting her head back, she only had a few seconds of warning before a book landed beside her with a loud thud. A little blue head appeared straight away from the top of the shelf the book had fallen from.

 

“Heh hiya cutie,” she said catching the small dragon as he fumbled down from his perch to rest beside her. Glancing at the book, she saw that the title read “Hanahaki” in fancy calligraphy.

 

“You really are a magical dragon aren't you wee one,” Rayla said smiling at the zappy kisses Zym gave her. Picking up the dragon, the book, and the petals, she snuck back out of the library.

 

“Hey wait up!” She almost groaned as she heard his voice rapidly coming closer. Pocketing the petals and flipping the book around so the title was no longer visible, she turned to face him.

“I just finished my lesson with Claudia and it was amazing! She knows so much I'm always amazed at the stuff she can find,” he smiled with a hint of admiration in his eyes as if nothing was wrong. Her chest clenched painfully at his smile. She felt a cough coming on.

 

“Cool I'm glad you are learning more and especially from the girl you like,” Rayla said in a saucy tone she didn't feel. What she didn't notice though was his small frown at the statement.

 

“Rayla I--,” he was cut off by her small cough and Zym's incessant whimpering. He glanced over to her but all traces of wrongness were gone.

 

“I've got to go Callum I'll see you later!” She yelled with a false smile, darting down the halls. The world around her became a blur as she focused on getting to her room. At some point Zym must have wriggled out of her grip though she didn't notice. Rounding the last corner, she bumped into a large solid chest. “Woah what's the deal,” the man said looking down at the small elf. Rayla glanced up and saw Soren with a hint of concern in his eyes when he noticed her panicked state. “Nothing just really need to use the toilet,” she blurted out, sprinting past him. One white petal escaping her grip and fluttering into the hands of the swordsman.

 

\--

 

Her room was just as dreary as she felt. Rayla opened her hand wishing for it to be a trick of the light, but had no such luck. A small white flower sat in the palm of her hand. Not recognising it, she hurriedly set the whole bloom on her nightstand, sat on the bed, and opened the book.

 

Flipping through pages, she finally located the flower names and meanings page. After a few minutes of searching she found that the white bloom was a carnation. It stood for pure love and was rare as far as the disease went. Flipping back to the front, she found an explanation that covered the bits Runaan left out in her youth.

 

“Hanahaki Disease can be traced back to the first earthblood elf. Neira was a proud and spiteful leader, though she was kind and just with her subjects if they followed her. She fell in love with a common seafoam elf and when he didn't reciprocate her feelings, she fell into deep grief. She later became angry with him and found through her sources that he loved an earthblood elf named Baie. Neira saw that Baie didn't love him back. In payment for rejecting her, Neira placed a transmittable curse on the man. He would cough up flowers of unrequited love until he suffocated and died. This curse eventually spread to her as she still ached to the man. In the end she died just as he did, grief stricken and in pain.”

 

Rayla let out the breath she had been holding, coughed out another carnation, set it on the nightstand, and skimmed forward a few pages to the types of the disease.

 

“There are two types of the disease. The normal type which most will have, it is usually a crush and can go away with proper treatment, and the pure type which is extremely rare as the person must not have any ill thoughts or feelings, even subconsciously, toward the person. This is most often symbolised with a white carnation. Pure love hanahaki moves much faster than normal, with the diseased coughing up whole flowers by the end of day one. Pure love cannot be rid of by medical means. The diseased must either confess and gain love from the person whom they love, or they use a spell to physically remove the love from themselves. This has many nasty side effects however. The most notable being loss in ability to love romantically ever again.”

 

The book slid off her lap and dropped to the floor. She coughed more flowers up as her mind went numb.

 

 _Either I die or I never love again._ She laughed humorlessly. _What's the difference._

 

She collected the multiple flowers she had hacked up and the few on the nightstand and deposited them into the drawer. She didn't want to die, but she didn't want the pain that came with knowing Callum didn't love her the way she loved him. She thought about how awful it would be to have to be around him while he fell in love with other girls and treated her like a sister. More flowers came up, the amount almost suffocating her. Rayla caught her breath as she leaned on the desk for support. Six whole carnations appeared on the desk, edged in pink.

 

\--

 

The blood came shortly after. What was described as the 'thorns’ in her book was taking hold of her lungs. Soon her desk drawer was filled with the pretty white flowers. More and more having pink and red stains. Small puddles of the liquid rested on the desk and floor with the occasional white petal floating along in the red streams. Soon, a figure lied on the floor surrounded by blood and petals, a lone carnation floating by their hand.

 

A frantic pounding sounded at the door. Rayla made no move to open it.

 

“Rayla! Please what's going on? You've missed all of the meals today and Soren said he saw you with a book titled Hanahaki and a petal that you dropped. Please Rayla let me help you!” He shouted tears beginning to swell in his eyes. When there was no response, he tried again.

 

“Rayla please,” his voice cracked, tears streaming down his face. He turned to the lock, and used the spell he worked on that day to freeze the locking mechanism and was able to open the door after he used a few tricks Harrow taught him.

 

Callum sank to his knees in shock at the scene that greeted him from Rayla's room. She was lying on her side in her own blood and petals, her eyes closed and the smile on her face peaceful. A blood-stained letter was on the desk with a few petals scattered across it. He stared through his tears and scrambled forward clutching to her cooling body his sobs echoing through the room. Callum didn't know how long he stayed there, until someone pried him off and helped him to his chambers.

 

\--

 

A letter was later delivered to him along with the book on Hanahaki the following day. The letter read:

_Dear Callum,_

_I am most likely dead if you are reading this. So there is no question, I was suffering from Hanahaki Disease, though knowing how smart you are, you've probably already figured that out. I am so sorry to leave you like this after everything we've been through, but I am happier where I am now than living with not being able to love. And before you ask, I'm not going to reveal who I loved. It would only cause grief on their part and I do not wish for that. I give you my blades, please use them to protect yourself and Ezran. Consider it a parting gift. Though I expect you to return the favor when we next meet._

_Your best friend, Rayla_

 

Callum carefully packed the note away with his most treasured items, tears dripping down his cheeks as if they never stopped. He stopped folding the note though, when he noticed an elegantly drawn rose on the back, stained red with her blood. Under it read- _For you._ He quickly flipped open the book again and looked for the flower meanings page. Love. It meant love.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. Weep my readers.


End file.
